Everywhere I look there are campaigns about how women are pigeon-holed into certain molds of what is beautiful. Video game characters are too thin and busty. Models are too thin. Store mannequins do not represent all body types equally. Our culture is now rampant with this feminine beauty reform. But, I have recently noticed one very interesting thing. There is no movement like this on the male side of things. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with this, because I can separate fiction from reality inside my own brain. But it is an interesting commentary on the difference between men and women when it comes to body image. Women, in my experience, tend to be far less capable of accepting themselves and their own body image purely based on their own internal thoughts. They have to constantly be reminded each and every day by themselves and everyone and everything else around them that they are beautiful. Men do not. Let's give some examples and how the responses differ between gender.
Recently there was a feminist post that photo-shopped the video game character Lara Croft into a chubbier, less busty version of herself. They reduced her breast size, increased her belly size, and gave her thicker arms and legs. They claimed this made her more "realistic". Women have been complaining for not just years, but decades that women are sexually objectified within video games and that men are pigs for it. But, what I find interesting throughout all of this is that I've never seen any movement at all, whatsoever, to make the male video game characters more "realistic". What do I mean? Just fucking look at male video game characters. Almost all of them are these muscle bound beefcakes with washboard abs who stand 8 to 12 feet tall and can demolish a building with their bare hands. Where are the outcries to stop this branding of men? Where are the movements to make these characters short, balding and have a beer gut? Nowhere to be found. Why? Because men don't care. We see it for what it is. Fiction. These are heroes, these are fake characters, these are not real people. We exaggerate features to make them super human. Does this mean that a perfect male is 8 feet tall and shredded? Of course not. It is an artistic expression of the author. But for men, it is OK. For women, it is objectification from the patriarchy.
I was also watching a debate about a recent feminist movement where the woman was wanting store mannequins to represent all body shapes and types. She said that when women see store mannequins that are all a size zero, it gives them the impression that being that body type is the only way to be attractive. Women need to see all shapes represented in order to feel accepted. So what happens when one mannequin size (let's just say, a size zero) becomes cheaper, because maybe, I dunno, they utilize less material to make since they are smaller? Stores would buy more of them to cut cost? Then what? Feminists would see this as another instance of the patriarchy choosing to stick with the gender stereotypes that have always plagued our society? It just sounds ridiculous to me. Once again, in the same manner, where is the male movement for this? It doesn't exist. Why? Because men don't need validation from a god damn store mannequin that their body style is acceptable. These store mannequins are again, 6+ feet tall, thin, and ripped. Good for them. I don't need to change this in order to validate my own image. I'm a pretty short guy, and trust me, people never let me forget it. But I don't need the world around me to reflect short people in the culture just to give me a feeling of acceptance. That's ridiculous. Mannequins are again, over exaggerated FAKE people. What they look like shouldn't matter. They also tend to have no arms or lower body. This should obviously be changed because people need to know that they are just as good as someone without arms or a lower body. No, we just know that these aren't real people and that you shouldn't be basing your own self image off of a fiberglass dummy at the local mall.
I dunno, I'm just so sick of hearing about how oppressed women are in this world. How men and society are responsible for bolstering the self confidence of women. As if we are the gate keepers of women's happiness. Since when? If I feel insecure at times about my height, I don't turn to women and claim that their skewed views of attraction based around our society are to blame. I work on strengthening the parts of myself that I control. I learn humor, maybe some charm. I find ways to overcome these things that are out of my control and stop worrying about the small stuff (no pun intended).
Recently there was a feminist post that photo-shopped the video game character Lara Croft into a chubbier, less busty version of herself. They reduced her breast size, increased her belly size, and gave her thicker arms and legs. They claimed this made her more "realistic". Women have been complaining for not just years, but decades that women are sexually objectified within video games and that men are pigs for it. But, what I find interesting throughout all of this is that I've never seen any movement at all, whatsoever, to make the male video game characters more "realistic". What do I mean? Just fucking look at male video game characters. Almost all of them are these muscle bound beefcakes with washboard abs who stand 8 to 12 feet tall and can demolish a building with their bare hands. Where are the outcries to stop this branding of men? Where are the movements to make these characters short, balding and have a beer gut? Nowhere to be found. Why? Because men don't care. We see it for what it is. Fiction. These are heroes, these are fake characters, these are not real people. We exaggerate features to make them super human. Does this mean that a perfect male is 8 feet tall and shredded? Of course not. It is an artistic expression of the author. But for men, it is OK. For women, it is objectification from the patriarchy.
I was also watching a debate about a recent feminist movement where the woman was wanting store mannequins to represent all body shapes and types. She said that when women see store mannequins that are all a size zero, it gives them the impression that being that body type is the only way to be attractive. Women need to see all shapes represented in order to feel accepted. So what happens when one mannequin size (let's just say, a size zero) becomes cheaper, because maybe, I dunno, they utilize less material to make since they are smaller? Stores would buy more of them to cut cost? Then what? Feminists would see this as another instance of the patriarchy choosing to stick with the gender stereotypes that have always plagued our society? It just sounds ridiculous to me. Once again, in the same manner, where is the male movement for this? It doesn't exist. Why? Because men don't need validation from a god damn store mannequin that their body style is acceptable. These store mannequins are again, 6+ feet tall, thin, and ripped. Good for them. I don't need to change this in order to validate my own image. I'm a pretty short guy, and trust me, people never let me forget it. But I don't need the world around me to reflect short people in the culture just to give me a feeling of acceptance. That's ridiculous. Mannequins are again, over exaggerated FAKE people. What they look like shouldn't matter. They also tend to have no arms or lower body. This should obviously be changed because people need to know that they are just as good as someone without arms or a lower body. No, we just know that these aren't real people and that you shouldn't be basing your own self image off of a fiberglass dummy at the local mall.
I dunno, I'm just so sick of hearing about how oppressed women are in this world. How men and society are responsible for bolstering the self confidence of women. As if we are the gate keepers of women's happiness. Since when? If I feel insecure at times about my height, I don't turn to women and claim that their skewed views of attraction based around our society are to blame. I work on strengthening the parts of myself that I control. I learn humor, maybe some charm. I find ways to overcome these things that are out of my control and stop worrying about the small stuff (no pun intended).
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